


Feathers

by AllTheWorldsACircle



Series: Scarlet Letter AUs [2]
Category: Supernatural (implied), The Scarlet Letter - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Non-Graphic Violence, Other, References to Supernatural (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 05:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3755398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllTheWorldsACircle/pseuds/AllTheWorldsACircle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hester was the most beautiful of all of Lucifer's demons. She looked nothing like her brothers and sisters, closer to the humans that walked the surface than the demons, spawn of the great wyrms that could be found deep in the burning hot core. Her wings were smaller than the others, and different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feathers

Hester was the most beautiful of all of Lucifer's demons. She looked nothing like her brothers and sisters, closer to the humans that walked the surface than the demons, spawn of the great wyrms that could be found deep in the burning hot core. Her wings were smaller than the others, and different. Unlike the scaly, leathery monstrosities that granted Legion flight, Hester's wings appeared charred and twisted. They had been so for so long that any pain she might have felt had long since been forgotten. But her beauty separated her. She was not permitted to fight with the others when they went into battle against the accursed angels. Instead she remained behind, exploring the wild of her lord's realm or reading of the great adventures in one of Lucifer's nine great libraries, one to each level.

 

The Keeper of the Level was her common acquaintance, despite the feeling within her that told her to stay away. It wasn't as if she had much of a choice. He was the only other demon in the level that could not fight.

 

"I was once great, you know," he told her when she asked, "I fell a second time when my wings were torn. It was on a mission to... Well, it was on a mission against the enemy. Not long before. You arrived, I should think. One of that oppressive, self-appointed lord's angels rent them with a silvered sword."

 

"Silver? I have only heard of the flaming swords."

 

"There is only one of those: The Flaming Sword of Michael, Crown Prince of the Archangels, if you will. Each archangel had a sword like that. Our Lord Lucifer has one yet, from his time in service to the man. His was of ice. Silver signifies a lower class of angel. To add insult to injury, I suppose," he explained. She nodded, storing the information.

 

It surprised her how few resources on angels there were in the library. She was fascinated by the subject, yet it seemed to be the only thing not covered. The Keeper had an answer for this, as well, "Lord Lucifer still laments his brothers and sisters refusing to join him. We keep as free of them as possible out of respect for his suffering. It was his own, his closest, brother who cast him out after all. He had thought Michael would understand. Clearly not."

 

"Oh. I see," she paused for a moment longer, "May I journey to the surface again?"

 

"I don't see why not. I will go out to search for you if you have not returned by the time Legion has."

 

"Of course, Keeper."

 

~~~

 

A foot soldier among the heavenly hosts touched the ground lightly at the end of his descent. This was his first solo mission to the earth, and only his fourth ever there. The Earthguard was an honorable position, he told himself. It was not the end of his career up the ranks, just a stepping stone.

 

"But do I really want to go up the ranks?" He asked of no one in particular. Which is, naturally, why he found himself jumping in shock at the voice that answered him.

 

"Why wouldn't you want to? Being higher ranked means getting to make decisions for yourself."

 

"Who's there?" He looked about wildly, searching for the speaker, "that is an evil opinion. The good obey. It is the way of things."

 

His words were met by a laugh that to him resembled the chimes in Joshua's garden, "Who taught you that? Only fools obey, and they become nothing more than a number in another's crowd, or the book on the shelf that you never choose. Who would wish this upon themself?"

 

"You are no angel to speak such. Are you human or demon, then?"

 

There was a rustle in the trees and brush behind him and he spun around to see someone emerge from the woods. The principality gaped as he saw a gorgeous yet tragic figure standing before him. The word 'divine' was almost on the tip of his tongue when he saw the black wings on her back. What he said instead was, "What demon has a face such as yours? A temptress, truly, but there is no succubus what looks so... pure, and yet-"

 

"And who are you to speak?" she recoiled at his form, even as she was drawn to it, having caused her to speak and give herself away in the first place, "At least I am all that I appear to be. What right has any angel to hold any sense of beauty?"

 

The principality balked, "And what do you mean by that, foul creature of sin?"

 

"Tell me, oh worthy one, what sin have I committed?"

 

"Well- you're a demon. That should be sin enough, should it not?" he stated, as if it were an obvious fact of life.

 

"Then tell me- which of us carries something which has the purpose only to give harm, intentions and reasoning aside."

 

He stared at her, uncomprehending, until she held up her arms and he realized what she had meant. This demon before him was unarmed. He, on the other hand, held a sword clasped in his hands.

 

"I don't see how that's relevant. I seek to defend the humans. You seek to destroy them."

 

"Destroy?" she seemed genuinely confused, "Our goal is only to free the humans from the concept of serving. Do they not teach you this in Heaven?"

 

"I told you already, fiend, I am defending the goodness of humanity as well as their lives, and to be good means to serve! You are corrupting them with false ideas of being more than what God has designed for them!" the principality raised his blade, "And it is my mission to rid the good earth of corrupters like you!"

 

She took a step back, eyeing the sword, "Think, damn you! You could be anything, do anything. Isn't there something you want? I know for a fact that even angels have wants- they just repress them out of fear of God. And by definition, one can only fear something that meets two conditions. Both conditions. The first- that it can harm you. Check. The second, that it disgusts you. Well? Does He?"

 

The principality was beginning to panic. She couldn't be right. She couldn't!

 

"NO!" the snarl was torn from his throat as he lunged, sharp edge slicing clean through her black wings where they met her back. She screamed in agony and the side of him that was still enchanted by her beauty reached forward, as if to comfort her. But she had already turned, and all he caught hold of was one of her previously grand limbs.

 

It tore from his hold as gravity continued to do its work, leaving him with only a handful of soot-covered feathers.

 

The angel stared at them even as the soot smeared onto his hands. He swallowed harshly, nearly choking, before dropping them as if they'd burned him. Keeping his gaze off the remnants of the wings, his horror was suspended at the sight of a small glittering object where she had stood. He bent to pick it up, and was shocked to find that it burned him with a freezing power. The principality cast one last glance at the charred feathers before putting the object in his pocket to show to Raphael. She might know what it is.

 

~~~

 

It was quiet when he returned to Heaven, and he had no problem finding Raphael's headquarters. The archangel rarely saw those beneath her- sometimes him, depending on her mood- but the word 'artifact' could always change that.

 

"Enter."

 

The principality moved forward nervously, fingers fiddling with the pouch that contained his treasure.

 

Raphael had a sharp, professional demeanor regardless of form or situation. Today was no exception as she sat in a crisp suit, staring down at him, despite him being the one standing.

 

"What do you have that is so important it requires the time of an archangel?"

 

"I-umm-when I was out, I met someone. A demon. I... drove her off. But she dropped this," he dumped the pouch's content on the table between them. Raphael sat forward sharply, reaching out for it.

 

"Watch out!"

 

She glanced up, alarmed expression still on her face, wordlessly asking for an explanation for his outburst.

 

"It burns when you touch it."

 

She scoffed, "No, it burns when you touch it," she continued to reach for it, finally picking it up with what could almost be reverence. Immediately she dropped it. Her expression became confused, "Brother?"

 

"What?"

 

She glanced up at the other angel, "Out! Wait- no. Take this to Michael. Tell his secretary or whatever that I sent you. And that he can expect me later to discuss this."

 

He nodded, scooping the item back into the pouch.

 

It took him longer to gain an audience with the Viceroy of Heaven, but soon enough he was there. Michael was just as intimidating as the stories told and the statues showed. Clad in the finest armor with a flaming broadsword at his side and two curved swords across his back, the principality was left with no doubts as to why Michael terrified the others. The story of how he had cast out his own brother with his bare hands did little to help.

 

Retelling his tale to the grandest of the angels, he found himself on the receiving end of a piercing glare.

 

"And Raphael thought this... jewel or whatever, was worthy of my attention? Why?"

 

"I do not know, my lord. I can only show it to you."

 

"Then do so," he said briskly. The principality knelt and opened the pouch once more. He did not expect God's firstborn to jump as if burned without even touching the thing. He heard a sharp intake of breath before the elder grabbed the thing from the ground, wincing from it's immense cold but refusing to drop it.

 

He stared down at the angel kneeling at his feet, "Do you have any idea what this is?"

 

The principality shook his head.

 

"It dropped from her after she fled."

 

"This is a child."

 

"Pardon?"

 

Michael held the item in front of his face, "Most angels and demons were created in a fully grown stage. There are rarely any children. On either side. For a demon or an angel to have a child requires three beings. It can only happen when three of them all have good intentions, but all of them are misinterpreted. The child is created with whatever power could settle the dispute. I have only witnessed this phenomenon once. And I can tell you that the third being in the case of this child was the same as the one from before. The fallen one."

 

He stared at his commander, "What?"

 

"You are as much this child's father as is my brother, Lucifer. The thing that I don't understand, is how this happened. The beings must be of the same species. It cannot be a mix of demons and angels. How then do you explain this demon woman?"

 

"Sir," he began, "There is one other thing. When I grabbed her wing... it had feathers."

 

"What?!" the Viceroy whirled around, "Don't you know the rules? Don't you know what that means?"

 

"I know," he said in a hushed tone. They spoke the lesson taught to every fledgling in unison, "The friend has feathers, the snake has scales, trust in the wings, this never fails."

 

It was a simple rhyme, but it taught a very important lesson.

  
Only angels had feathers. 


End file.
